Hiphop Tamizha

One of India’s seminal hip-hop acts, the duo Hiphop Tamizha was comprised of Adhithya “Adhi” Venkatapathy and R. Jeeva. The pair of music enthusiasts first got together in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in 2005 and started creating music independently. Because hip-hop had not caught on yet in India, they remained an underground act, eventually adopting the Hiphop Tamizha moniker in 2010. In 2011 their track “Ezhuvoam Vaa” became the anthem of Tamil Nadu’s elections. Their debut album, 2012’s Hip Hop Tamizhan, considered by many to be the first Tamil-language hip hop album, combined the duo’s affection for the sounds of Michael Jackson and Jay-Z with traditional Indian musical ideas and became a massive success. Within a few years, the duo focused on composing and performing for Bollywood, and they worked extensively in this capacity. Due to extreme shyness, R. Jeeva remained out of the public eye, leading many to believe that Adhi was a solo artist. This led to Adhi regularly clarifying they are a duo, and also getting a chance to act in some film roles including the 2017 romantic comedy Meesaya Murukku and 2021’s Sivakumarin Sabadham, both of which Adhi directed. From the latter film, their single “Sivakumar Pondati” became yet another chart hit. In 2020 they released their second album, Naa Our Alien.